The Mind at Work (Part 3)

Discussing the permanence of results, the sleep-therapy advocates say it depends on the individual's degree of suggestibility and desire to overcome the habit or problem. Once broken, the habit should not return, but in the case of a strong compulsion, the message should be replayed for several nights.

The physiological explanation for the effects of repetition in sleep-therapy which is offered is that any persistently duplicated or long sustained repeats of some specific mental picture will eventually bring about vast electronic or sub-molecular shifts within the body and usually eliminate the roots of the disturbance.

As to the suggestibility of the individual, everyone is suggestible to some degree, and by conscientious practice should be able to develop that suggestibility to a degree. Schrenk-Netzing placed the number of persons susceptible to direct hypnosis at 90%, so the incidence of those susceptible to indirect suggestion should run substantially higher, probably 99%.

Repetition is also used to induce relaxation and receptivity to the material to be learned. The most accepted method is the use of word pictures to suggest a gradual descent into the lower realms of consciousness.

Word pictures vary, but they must always offer a peaceful, gradual descent: using an escalator . . . descending deeper . . . dee . . . per . . . deeper . . . into pleasant sleep and relaxation. Repetition of the words "deep" and "relax" is constant. A progression of movement is used, always going DOWN . . . ree . . . laxed . . . dee . . . per . . . dee . . . per.

The vivid impression necessary in the induction can be the word picture of descending a staircase, step by step; relaxing on a couch or bed as it slowly descends into the realm of sleep and subconscious receptivity.

It is apparent that the sleep-learning approach is, in many ways, consistent with the principles of hypnosis. Stress is laid on the importance of relaxation, on creating a favorable emotional attitude, on the power of suggestion and in the use of monotonous inflections to bring on drowsiness.

We can now investigate sleep-learning in the light of present knowledge and theories about memory.